Salmonella infect their animal hosts by entering into and traversing the intestinal epithelial barrier. Several other enteric pathogens, including Yersinia and Shigella, utilize integrins as receptors on the host cell, and induce their own internalization by manipulating the function of focal adhesion proteins that link integrins to the actin cytoskeleton. We discovered that the focal adhesion proteins FAK (focal adhesion kinase), p130Cas, paxillin, vinculin and a-actinin become enriched at apical sites of Salmonella entry into host epithelial cells, despite the absence of integrins from the apical plasma membrane. Preliminary data suggest that assembly of focal adhesions at these sites is mediated by interaction of the bacterial effector protein SipC with host paxillin. Moreover, we found that Salmonella infection stimulates the assembly of FAK/Cas/paxillin complexes, and that internalization is dramatically reduced in cells lacking either FAK or p1 SOCas, suggesting that focal adhesion components play an important role in bacterial entry. This hypothesis will be tested in specific aim 1. We will also examine the function of FAK in an in vivo model of Salmonella infection. Although mice deficient in most focal adhesion components die at an early stage of embryogenesis, we have recently obtained a mouse line in which the FAK gene is conditionally deleted with high efficiency from the intestinal epithelium. The effects of this deletion on bacterial colonization and systemic spread will be examined in Aim 2. Finally, Salmonella infection of epithelial cells and tissues results in increased paracellular permeability overtime. Using DNA microarray analysis, we found that Salmonella infection specifically induces the expression of two unusual GTPases, Rnd3 and Gem, which inhibit the function of endogenous RhoA by two distinct mechanisms. Since junctional integrity is dependent upon RhoA function, we hypothesize that Rnd3 and Gem facilitate the observed increase in paracellular transport by inhibiting Rho-dependent signaling pathways. We also discovered that expression of Rnd3 alone was sufficient to induce the transmigration of human neutrophils across monolayers of Rnd3-expressing epithelial cells, suggesting a role for this protein in the inflammatory response. These hypotheses will be tested in specifc Aim 3. The overall goal of the proposed research is to determine the mechanisms by which Salmonella enter host intestinal cells and cause disease.